Last night to see Denis Ogden’s play The Peaceful Inn. The most fearful tripe. The interesting point was that though the play was cast in 1940, it contained no reference direct or indirect to the war.[1]
Struck by the fewness of the men who even now have been called up. As a rule, looking round the street, it is impossible to see a uniform… Barbed wire entanglements are being put up at many strategic points, e.g. beside the Charles I statue in Trafalgar Square… Have heard on so many sides of the shortage of rifles that I believe it must be true.
[1] For Orwell’s review, see 636 [Complete Works]. Peter Davison
Orwell Diaries 1938-1942 
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Cast of this “most fearful tripe” at the Duke of York’s Theatre included the future Lady Mills (wife of Sir John Mills). It was her last stage appearance in the West End.
Orwell always cut to the chase. The use of Tripe here is a case in point.